UGA Vegetable Gardening Publications
With food prices high, folks have been thinking about growing some of their own food. Food gardening is not hard and it doesn’t have to take much room in your landscape. You can even do it in containers! These gardening publications are available on the Internet or ask for a...
Shrub – Transplanting 1-2-3
Most shrubs and trees should be transplanted when the demand for water is least, in late fall or winter. Since many roots will inevitably be lost, they need many weeks to regenerate themselves before the hot, dry blasts of summer arrive. If you are contemplating moving a plant that would...
Shrub – Pruning Calendar
The Home & Garden section of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution published a very nice pruning calendar several years ago. When viewed on a sheet of newsprint, it was gorgeous. When reduced to fit onto a sheet of typing paper it was impossible to read. I imagine you didn’t keep...
South Africa Adventure – 2014
As many of you know, I led a group of gardeners and spouses to South Africa in 2010. The memories of that vibrant, beautiful, surprising country still linger in my brain! We had such a good time I’ve decided to lead another group trip there in January, 2014. Want to...
New Gardening Books
I regularly receive interesting-looking gardening books from publishers. I don’t have time to read them all or give an intelligent review but I know they would appeal to many gardeners. These are some of the books I’ve gotten recently. You can click the link under the book cover images to...
Gardening – For beginners
Q: I have been asked to be the teacher advisor for a gardening/environmental group at my elementary school in Cherokee County. This is a brand new group so we need some direction. Do you have information that may help? A:...
Gardening – For a profit
Q: I have no farming experience, except my 25 by 25 foot garden. Is it possible to be a hobby farmer working the farm only one day a week, and produce enough to make the effort worth while? What is...
Juniper – Dying Under Trees
Q: My junipers are dying, all of them. Can you help? A: This is a common problem…the trees originally planted above the junipers were small enough to let plenty of sunshine through. In the intervening years, shade has become more...
‘Mission’ Fig – Growing in Georgia
Q: I saw black ‘Mission’ fig trees at a nursery a couple of weeks ago and started dreaming of plucking figs from my own tree and cooking with them. But I wondered if they’d grow well in Georgia. In the...
Turfgrass – Watering
Q: My lawn maintenance guy and I have a difference of opinion. Turf experts recommend an inch of water per week, applied every seven days. My yard guy says that since the subsoil is so hard-packed six inches below my...
Perimeter College Native Plant Garden
Q: I have not been able to find the link to the Perimeter College Native Plant Garden on your website. Could you please provide information on their Wednesday programs? A: Theresa Schrum replies: “The web site with more information on...
Royal Paulownia (Empress Tree) – Carving
Q: You talked about a weed tree from China, a Royal (something). I would like to know the spelling of that weed or tree. I am a woodturner and will have access to a large piece (about 2 feet in...
Animals – Keeping out of garden
Q: How can I keep neighborhood animals from sleeping among my plants (i.e., red hot pokers, shasta daisies) and flattening them? A: I saw a magazine article recently where a person described cutting her surplus coathangers into “hairpins” with a...
October Glory Maple – Splitting at the Trunk
Q: I planted an ‘October Glory’ maple last October. Recently I have noticed a split, about 6 inches long in the bark. It is about 10 inches from the ground where the trunk is about 4 inches in diameter. It...
Butterfly – Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Q: I spotted this gorgeous butterfly in our back yard in June. Its wing span was nearly the size of my hand. Some of the black round spots on the wings were actually bulging, not flat. Is it unusual? A:...
Holly – Pruning
Q: We have 4 holly bushes. They have gotten out of hand and look more like trees and cover the windows. Please tell me the proper way to prune A: Theresa Schrum replies: “There really is no wrong way to...
Plums – Growing from Seed
Q: I have an ornamental plum that has red-purple leaves (spade shaped with small serrated edges). This first year it produced about a dozen plums about 1″ in length. I was wondering how does one grow more trees from the...
Dahlias – Check for Firmness
Q: Time got away from me and I left my dahlias in the ground. Last year some came up from the preceding year, but they weren’t as pretty. Is it best to dig them up and throw them away? A:...
English Ivy – Dying
Q: I have an ongoing issue with my ivy. I have lost more than 1/2 of the ivy in the front yard. We are very frustrated and would like to keep the ivy rather than replace it with something different....
Squash Bugs – Control
Q: Do you have any suggestions for controlling squash bugs, not squash vine borers, on yellow squash? A: Adult squash bugs are a bit more than a half-inch long and a quarter-inch wide. They are dark brown, sometimes mottled with...
Holly – Removing
Q: I recently purchased a home with several large overgrown holly bushes along the walkway. I would like to remove them and replace with something less hazardous to one’s body when walking by. Recently I pruned the largest one back...
Pine Straw – Origins
Q: Having relocated from the Pacific Northwest, we had never seen pine straw used in landscaping. Where does it come from and how is it harvested? What are the benefits, if any, over “beauty bark” which is popular back home?...
Insecticide – Eating Fruit after Use
Q: I am in a dilemma! Recently we put a product containing the systemic insecticide imidacloprid around some blueberry bushes and figs. Will we be able to eat the fruit from these plants this year? A: My research reveals that...
Weeds – Identification with Pictures
Weed control in the landscape is a tough business. You have to know a lot about the weed in question just to get started! As in most situations, a picture is worth a thousand words. Websites Preen has terrific weed...
Diagnosing Holes in the Yard
Sometimes many heads are better than one when it comes to solving a problem. Wade Hutcheson, my Extension colleague in Spalding county, gets plenty of calls from the citizens of his area asking his help in identifying various holes in...
Brown Patch – Diagnosing
You have brown patches of dead grass in your lawn. Is it the common lawn disease ‘brown patch’ or is it something else? The answer is important: if it is brown patch you probably need to spray with a fungicide....
Bermuda – Weed Control
BASIC INFORMATION: Weed Identification Pictures General Turf and Weed Info Lawn Care Calendars THREE METHODS There are three primary methods of controlling weeds. Any one method, when used alone, will not usually control all of your weeds. To consistently control...
Lawn – Timing Pre-emergent Herbicide
One of the sourest phrases that can be directed at a child or adult is “I told you so!” Whether you touch a hot match, leave tools out in the rain or lift cinder blocks all afternoon, someone is usually...
Crapemyrtle – Pruning
One of the most confounding arguments I face is whether and how to prune crapemyrtles. They are mercilessly “murdered” by unaware landscapers and homeowners each winter… yet they still bloom in summer. Some people even believe a crapemyrtle won’t bloom...
Lawn – Growing in Shade
OK. I admit it. I have given up. I came to the conclusion that grass just would not grow in the corner of my lawn near the ornamental cherry trees. The shade there is so dense that my grass, no...
Lawn – Leveling
A new home in my neighborhood had bermudagrass sod planted in March. By May, one area was a perfect checkerboard of straight lines, composed of weedy plants, surrounding the individual squares of sod. Evidently the sod installers were in such...
Bermuda Grass – Disease – Brown Patch
Brown patch is most prevalent on bermudagrass which has been heavily fertilized when night temperatures are above 68 degrees and day temperature are above 80 degrees. Dead patches of grass may start small but can grow and join together to...
St. Augustine Grass Seed – Where to Buy
Q: Please tell me where I can buy St. Augustine grass seeds. Our lawn has some now and we like it a lot, but we’re having trouble finding seeds. A: You can’t buy St. Augustinegrass seed. The plant is very...
